Gas turbines are continuously being modified to provide increased efficiency and performance. These modifications include the ability to operate at higher temperatures and under harsher conditions, which often requires material modifications and/or coatings to protect components from such temperatures and conditions. As more modifications are introduced, additional challenges are realized.
One modification to increase performance and efficiency involves forming gas turbine components, such as, but not limited to, airfoils, buckets (blades), nozzles (vanes), shrouds, combustor liners, and heat shields from CMC. However, CMC components, particularly those CMC components which include thick solid sections, may be slow or difficult to densify due to trans-laminar melt infiltration rates across plies, which may give rise to undesirably lengthy densification processes. Additionally, breathability during the pyrolization process of a preform may be inhibited.